The Positive Change Cycle

Just as there is a negative cycle
of emotions experienced when the change is not to the liking of the person in
question, so also is there a positive cycle. Not all people experience change as
a bad thing: some will benefit from the change, whilst others just find change
in itself intriguing and exciting.

Uninformed optimism

In the first stage of positive change, the person is excited and intrigued by
the change. They look forward to it with eager anticipation, building a very
positive and often over-optimistic view, for example that it will be much easier
for them and resolve all of their current issues.

And for a time after the change (sometimes sadly short), there is a
'honeymoon period', during which they are positively
happy with the change.

Informed pessimism

The honeymoon period does not last forever and the rose-tinted glasses start
to fade as the untidiness of reality starts to bite. The person finds that
things have not all fallen into place, that other people have not magically
become as cooperative as they expected, and that things are just not as easy as
they had expected.

This pushes them over into a period of gloom when they realize that
perfection, after all, is not that easy to attain. This may evidence itself in
mutterings and grumblings, but still does not reach the depths of the
depression stage of negative
change perception (unless the person flips into a delayed negative cycle).

Informed optimism

Before long, however, their original optimism starts to reassert itself, now
tinted by a resignation to the reality of the situation. After all, things are
not that bad, and a positive sense of potential begins to creep back.

As they look around them and talk to other people, they make realistic plans
and move forward with an informed sense of optimism.

Completion

Eventually, things reach a relatively steady platform of realistic and
workable action. The person is probably happier than they were before the change
started and, with their realistic vision, have the potential to reach giddier
heights of happiness as they achieve more of their potential.